Yahoo News 'They're ruining a culture and it feels like they just don't want us anymore' says Lancashire farmer on impact of tractor tax
A Lancashire farmer has said the government's Budget announcement for farmers is "ruining a culture". But after years of struggle Becki Fielding says this is "just another blow" to the industry.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves detailed the Labour government's Autumn Budget, the party's first for 14 years, on October 30. Addressing the House of Commons, she announced plans affecting farmers and the fallout from the industry has seen the community less than impressed.
Under the plans, Inheritance Tax will be charged at 20 per cent on agricultural assets above £1 million, a so-called tractor tax. The Chancellor has said this threshold could be around £3 million in some cases - but for many, this isn't good enough.
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Becki works on her family farm, Pulford Farm Dairies on Belthorn Road in Blackburn. She said that the community 'were in shock' on the day of the Budget announcement.
"It had been mentioned and there were quite a lot of rumours about it," Becki told LancsLive. "Nobody thought they would do it quite as harshly as they did.
"I think for the first day, everyone was in shock and then it started to sink in with what that actually means for everybody's business." Becki explains the Budget announcement was "just another blow" after Britain left the European Union in 2020, following a referendum on the move in 2016.
Farmers Weekly reported 69 per cent of 900 farmers said Brexit had a "fairly negative" or "very negative" affect, citing reduced availability of pickers and slaughterhouse workers, increased input costs, loss of subsidies, poor trade deals and lack of government direction.
The latter can still be seen today, as the Budget reaction brings yet another blow to the farming industry. Announced in the fiscal update, it was stated inheritance tax relief for farms will be limited to £1 million.
"That seems like a massive, massive amount of money," Becki explained. "But where farms are concerned, land is so expensive and that's the same here, you can't get anything for £1 million on a farm, with farms tending to be very generational.
"They are generational for a reason and this is because, the secret is in the word agriculture. It's a culture, it's not necessarily a job and they're taxing a culture and they're ruining the culture as well.
"It means a lot of farms, just the average size farm will have to pay up to £500,000 in Inheritance Tax just so they can continue. People say you can get a mortgage but getting a mortgage on £500,000 is huge and the profits are so small in farming anyway that it's going to put a lot of farms in impossible situations."
The 20 per cent figure announced by the Government represents a 50 per cent relief compared to the standard rate, but many including farming unions and opposition parties aren't happy. They say the announcement will make British farms uncompetitive in an already difficult situation.
Pulford Farm Dairies has existed in Lancashire for more than 50 years and has supplied fresh deliveries of milk, yoghurt, fresh eggs and cream in and around the Blackburn and Darwen areas. The team deliver to shops, offices, factories, nurseries, and care homes, working around the clock to ensure the farm is ticking by and deliveries are sent promptly.
"It very much feels like, to the whole farming community, that the government just don't want farmers anymore. They're quite happy to import, they don't need us and they don't want us.
"That's what it comes across as, that we're very disposable." Becki explains that Pulford Farm Dairies has three generations working on it, saying her in-laws "started with nothing and have built it up very slowly over the years"
Becki added: "Farmers don't get paid like normal people get paid. They're working 70-80 hours a week for far less than the minimum wage and they're doing that because they're investing in their future.
"To have that taken away, it will make a lot of farmers wonder if it's worth doing it all."
The National Farmers' Union (NFU) has been vocal about their opposition to the announcement. NFU President Tom Bradshaw said: "The Prime Minister’s words were warmly greeted at NFU conference. We finally heard recognition of the certainty and stability needed for a thriving food and farming industry – one that underpins the UK’s largest manufacturing sector food and drink which delivers £148 billion to the economy.
"However, reports that the government is considering cutting the agriculture budget due to the failure of the previous government leading to an underspend of £358 million, and a possible review of Agriculture Property Relief (APR) are incredibly concerning. We are asking for a renewed multi-year annual agriculture budget of £5.6 billion, not because it would be nice to have, but because it is an essential investment to deliver the government’s environmental goals, increase growth and support the economic stability of farm businesses.
"The loss of APR could mean family farms, who are vital to producing food for the country, providing jobs and looking after our countryside, having to be sold to cover the costs. Changes would amount to a “Family Farm Tax”. It would also have a devastating impact on tenant farmers and new entrants.
"At a time when farmer and grower confidence is at its lowest on record due to high production costs, extreme weather and uncertainty during the agricultural transition, we need stability and that genuine partnership with government which the Prime Minister spoke of. That is why on 30th October we’re asking for an increased agriculture budget and confirmation of no change to APR.
"This will deliver certainty to our food producing businesses and ensure our food security and environmental targets, all of which contribute to the government’s own missions for growth and prosperity."
Becki is the Vice Chair for Lancashire NFU and will be heading to London on Tuesday, November 19 to speak with MPs about the situation facing farmers.
